Earthtalk

    Online, cheap “nano courses” to provide job training for qualified high school graduates who are not college-bound ( “A Smart Way To Skip College”; Business Day, June18) has the potential to replace what corporations used to do themselves, train their new hires.  Over recent decades the task of job training has shifted from corporations to universities with less than desirable results.  The classic liberal arts education has been largely reduced to teaching skills suitable for specific industries.  In the meantime, the rapidly changing needs of industries in a high-tech world cannot be met by universities that are largely unable to keep pace. 
    Nano courses run by corporations could fulfill these needs by training high school grads and college grads for specific industries.  Universities could then be left to do what they do best, provide a broad academic background that improves lives and society far beyond mere job training.
  6-18-14

The Sept. 11 tragedy and subsequent events in Afghanistan have afforded the United States and unusual opportunity for markedly reducing poverty, hunger, ignorance, and violence throughout the world. Because of Sept. 11, an unprecedented degree of sympathy and support have been offered from allies and old enemies alike, and new coalitions have been formed.  The current display of our military muscle, albeit inflicted upon one of the poorest nations on earth, has garnered us respect, if not outright fear.  This respect and fear could act as a deterrent to future conflicts.

This is a unique opportunity to promote peace and good will by forming international coalitions to redistribute the world’s wealth with increased humanitarian aid and greatly reduced military aid.   If, however, our leaders become fixated on revenge and continued military action, an opportunity will have been squandered, and the legacy of the Sept. 11 victims will be greatly diminished.

Published in Boston Globe Dec 21, 2001

Re “Party Here, Sacrifice Over There” (Op-Ed, Oct. 20): Will Bardenwerper is correct that there is a disconnect between soldier’ lives in Iraq and the lives of the American public.  The reasons are that this is the president’s war, not America’s, and it is being fought with a professional volunteer army aided by corporate mercenaries.
    Americans simply do not think that this war is worth the sacrifice by soldiers or themselves.  This is the downside of not having a draft; politicians are more willing to go to war, and there will be far less public outcry when they do.
    Lies got us into this war, but truth is the only way out.

Published in NY Times Oct 23, 2007

It is almost a year since New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and the city is still without a reconstruction plan other than those initiated by citizens hoping to rebuild their neighborhoods.
    As commendable and courageous as these efforts are, there is an elephant in the room that no one seems to want to talk about: the idea that all the neighborhoods should not be rebuilt.
    The strong political and cultural opposition to this opinion makes it one that few are willing to seriously propose, and yet it is a decision that common sense and science dictate should be made.
    The lowest-lying, most severely impacted areas of the city should not be rebuilt, since there can be no guarantee that they will not be inundated again, perhaps with even greater devastation than wrought by Katrina. What reputable engineer or scientist would make such a guarantee for even a few years into the future?
    As painful as this reality may be to accept, relocation of certain neighborhoods and reconstruction of a smaller, safer New Orleans are the best options.
                                   

Published in NY Times Aug 24, 2006

It is true that it is difficult to restrict construction in risky areas (news article, March29) such as at the Oso landslide but that is no excuse for inaction on the part of government agencies and politicians.  Every time limits on development are imposed or even suggested, property owners complain vociferously until authorities and politicians cave in.  When a disaster later damages or destroys their property they accept government assistance via rescue efforts, flood insurance subsidies, disaster relief, and infrastructure repairs.  Other taxpayers end up footing the bill for their poor land use choices and the inability of politicians to stand up to the heat.

Since the 1970's Oregon has required towns, cities, and unincorporated areas of counties to have comprehensive land use plans that include substantial consideration of geologic hazards.  Many of these plans include the requirement that no construction is allowed in hazardous areas without first having a site-specific study completed by a geologist.  Los Angeles County has had a similar requirement for hillside areas since the 1950's.  These measures greatly reduce damages and in the case of the Oso slide would have saved lives.

If controversial individuals such as Condoleza Rice were simply invited to speak at commencements, much controversy could be avoided, at least in my mind.  It is the bestowing of honorary doctorates, the highest honor a university can award, that bothers me.  Let them talk, just don’t give them a degree for it.

Mr. Egan (Opinion, May 17) assumes that Dr. Rice, and others not allowed to speak, would have presented highly controversial, even life-changing ideas that would challenge graduates and generate debate.  Well, to do that she would have to have presented a case defending her role in the Iraq war and torture of prisoners, highly unlikely speech topics.  Anything else would be the same blather that most speakers offer.

Unpublished letter to NY Times

I agree with Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s main points about nuclear power (letter, April 17) but he is in error on one issue.  It is not the nuclear industry that has failed to solve the nuclear waste disposal problem, it is the federal government which has collected over $24 billion since 1983 from power companies for the purpose of providing a disposal site.  The Department of Energy promised the power industry to have a site completed and ready to accept waste by 1998.  With the politically-motivated abandonment of the Yucca Mountain site, after decades of study and billions in expenses, President Obama’s “Blue Ribbon Panel” basically concluded that we should start over.  Nuclear power will never be viable without first dealing with the waste issue.

Expanding the use of massive open online courses (MOOCs) by universities will save money but at a high cost (news article, April 30).  Here is what will be lost in such a cookie cutter mode of instruction:  the casual banter between professor and students during the several minutes before a class begins; the spontaneous questions and debates during class and the exploration of unscripted topics; the opportunity after every class for students to ask questions or simply converse with their professor.  Also gone will be the ability of professors to tailor their course materials, and how they are presented, in a way that takes best advantage of their talents and expertise.   Professors already can communicate with students via email and blogs, can choose from thousands of websites to incorporate into their courses, create their own websites, and post materials on platforms like  Blackboard.
        Other than universities saving money, there seems to be little to gain and much to lose by the wholesale conversion of courses to MOOCs.   The lower cost to students will serve to provide state legislators cover as they continue to slash spending on education.   Most importantly, the result will be a two-tiered system where the poor get MOOCs and the rich get professors.

Unpublished letter to NY Times

March 1, 2013

    Owners of homes within the coastal flood zone are up in arms over increases in flood insurance premiums (Front Page, Sunday Globe, 1-19-14).  After decades of having 55 to 60 percent of their annual premiums paid by the federal government, it is hard to feel sympathetic.  Since most properties effected are second homes, businesses, or homes with repeated flood damage it is all the more reasonable that owners pay the going rate for their insurance.  Market rates are high for a reason and risk takers simply have to accept the costs rather than being bailed out by tax payers.

Published in Sunday Boston Globe 1/26/14

Proponents of beach replenishment (Science Times, Nov 6) want it all, private beach front playgrounds for the wealthy, sand from offshore and inland quarries to repair their beaches, and sea walls to protect their property, all at taxpayers expense and at great cost to the beaches themselves.   As sea level rises these people will become more and more strident with their demands that the rest of us bail them out.  It is time to pull the plug and stop subsidizing foolish land use and let the ocean do its work.  


NY Times   Nov. 13, 2012

That  three-quarters of community college graduates cannot adequately  understand newspaper editorials or calculate the cost of food items per ounce (Front Page, Sept. 2) are sad and disturbing testaments to the state of  education in our primary and secondary schools.  Community colleges are not entirely at fault since they are merely dealing  with the damage they inherit.   Over the past several decades, poorly-trained students have become poorly-trained and poorly-paid teachers perpetuating a system that has corroded its core mission of education and replaced it with a resume-building machine based largely on extra-curricular activities.   This misguided approach at college preparation evolved in response to parental desires to enhance their children’s resumes and to colleges’ increased dependence on non-academic parameters in evaluating applicants.

    First and foremost we must  make teaching a profession that  once again appeals to the brightest and best of our  college-bound students.   Besides a massive culture-wide attitude adjustment, this will take substantial salary increases to draw top students.  It would likely take a decade at least before these new entries could advance to more powerful positions where they could make the structural changes required to once-again teach our children how to read, write, do math, and think analytically. 

Unpublished letter to NY Times

James Carroll (Opinion, November 21) asks  "at what point does naivete become something to be ashamed of?" He then  inadvertently illustrates the answer to his question by  glorifying and exaggerating the role of the press in ending the Vietnam War.  Later he claims the press "tells you who your are" and "does for democracy what liturgy does for religion what poetry does for experience; what gesture does for feeling."

Carroll adds to this bloat by writing  that we, the reading public, naively believed that after Vietnam, our country would never again conduct a criminal and unnecessary war.   No one I know believed this and if Carroll actually believes  his own rhetorical excesses then it is now much clearer why the press stood by and rooted as we were dragged into the war in Iraq and why the press has been so slow in criticizing the Bush administration.   Carroll blames the public for going along with the press's acceptance of Bush's flimsy rationale for war because we needed  this "tissue of lies"  to "cover our shame."   This self-serving passing of the blame for one's own ineptness is the point at which naivete becomes something to be ashamed of.


published 11/25/05 Boston Globe

The Big Dig fiasco certainly reflects poorly on Boston but for psychiatrists  to fret over Bostonian's sense  of fear, frustration, anger, and humiliation ("Big dig state of mind", D1, July 30) misses the larger point.  Bostonians and  the citizens of Massachusetts  helped set the stage for the Big Dig's failure and deserve the humiliation.  For decades we have collectively turned our heads or  became resigned to a corrupt network of unions, politicians, government agencies, and businesses that conspire to gain the maximum financial  and political advantage at the lowest cost to themselves.  Feeding at the public trough has been institutionalized here far  more than any where else I have lived in this country.  Our ability to get it right was doomed by  years of patronage appointments to key positions, contracts awarded to political cronies, government agencies behaving as independent fiefdoms, and thousands of  politically connected people getting those coveted government jobs they otherwise would be unqualified to hold.   This ingrained culture of corruption has led to this defining moment of absurdity that cost an innocent woman her life.   Humiliation in the eyes of a nation is long overdue and maybe by becoming aware of it we can start to fix the real problem here.

In Boston Sunday Globe, August 6, 2006